Joining Saatchi & Saatchi in London in 1972, and co-founding breakaway agency M&C Saatchi in 1994, he was involved in some of Britain’s most famous political and corporate advertising campaigns. These included Margaret Thatcher’s election-winning 1979 poster “Britain isn’t working” (with a picture of a dole queue), and the famous British Airways theme tune (more on that later).
But he quit M&C Saatchi late last year, after overseeing the clean-up from revelations of accounting irregularities that had triggered a crisis at the listed firm.
He’s also wrapped up as SA agent-general, a gig he did for almost 15 years on the sidelines of his day job. His nose for publicity helped the smaller, less flashy state hold its own in the contest for British attention among the various states’ trade promotion agencies in London, most of which share the same office block round the back of Australia House.
This is what prompted my lunch invitation, returning the favour after 12 years. I hoped to capture the distilled wisdom of half a century in the trade, along with some salacious anecdotes and juicy gossip – he knows everyone in this town. And maybe to find out what he’s planning next, as he’s too full of restless energy to be retiring.
He’s slightly reluctant. He knows the media all too well, and there’s still a niggle from a long-ago article following what he thought was a private lunch with a Bulletin journalist – who gave him the nickname “Hogan of the slogan”, supposedly referring to his resemblance to the Ocker comedian. But he also loves a good chinwag, and in the end, he can’t quite resist.
The restaurant he’s picked is 45 Jermyn St, which is a nicely kitted out but unostentatious joint at the rear of Fortnum & Mason, the luxury 300-year-old department store and tourist trap most famous for its tea.
He has been coming here for years – it’s only a few blocks from M&C Saatchi’s Soho…